Personal Space
by Copper's Mama
Summary: Dean/Cas fic, takes place early season 5. Dean's plan to keep Cas out of his personal bubble fails miserably. Please read and review!


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_A Dean/Castiel fic. _

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_Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Supernatural. I'm not that awesome. _

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_A/N: Alrighty, this was number 39 on my list of Dean/Cas fics to write. _

_Let me add here: I define the pairing, as well as the type of story in my summaries. If I'm writing a Dean/Cas fic, unless it's otherwise specified, it's gonna be a romance fic. If homosexuality offends you, then I don't want you reading my stories any more than you want to read it. And I'm certainly not going to go back and "revise for future readers". My stories are what they are ... if you enjoy them, I'm glad. If you don't, then don't read them. Pretty simple, I think. _

_Okay, now that that's out of the way ... _

_Basically, this story is about Castiel's inability to respect Dean's personal space. _

_I hope you guys like it, I know I'll love writing it. _

_As always, please read and review, I live for feedback! _

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Dean had tried to drill into Castiel's head time after time: respect his personal space. But the angel just didn't seem to get it. He was constantly popping in at the most unfortunate of situations, and more often than not, he would be less than a foot away from Dean when he did. Every single time it happened, Dean would jump nearly out of his skin, glare at Castiel, and berate him for the indiscretion, telling him to wear a bell or something.

The time when Castiel had popped in on him while he'd been ... relieving his tension, that had been bad enough. But the last straw had been the other day, when Dean had been sudsing himself up in the shower. He'd turned around to wash the soap off to find Castiel standing inside the shower with him, oblivious to the fact that Dean was naked, and that water was soaking into that damned trench coat of his.

Dean was finally prepared to take more aggressive steps to get through to the angel. _Time to give him a taste of his own medicine,_ he thought before summoning the clueless angel.

"Hello Dean," Castiel greeted from behind him.

Dean put his poker face on, turning around to look at the angel. Where he would normally step back and tell Castiel to quit coming so close to him, he stood his ground, even moving forward a half-inch. "Hey, Cas," he welcomed.

If Castiel noticed a change in Dean's behavior, he didn't say anything.

Dean pressed forward, hoping to either make his point or make the angel uncomfortable ... or both. "So, how are things on the home-front?" he wondered, using a softer voice than normal as he stood roughly a foot away from the angel.

Castiel met Dean's eyes casually, not commenting on the situation. "I continue my quest to find god, but it is difficult and time-consuming. Did you call me here just to chat?"

Dean shrugged, slowly taking another small step forward. "I dunno, I guess I was feeling a little lonely. With me and Sam gone our separate ways ... thought you might like to hang out."

Castiel maintained his stare. "You have never wanted to ... _hang out_ before. Why now?"

Dean wondered how long it would for it to sink he, but he persisted, not wanting to be the one to back down. It would defeat the purpose of the entire point if he backed away now. So he shrugged and replied, "Just felt like it."

Castiel narrowed his eyes, letting his mind seep into Dean's, reading his thoughts. He didn't do it often, as he knew the hunter would see it as an invasion of his privacy and would take offence to it, but there were times when it was easier to just go in and see what Dean was thinking, than it was to wait for him to finally admit to anything.

The reasoning for his actions was on the very front of his mind, so it was easy for Castiel to figure out what was going on. He thought about backing off, but then delved a little deeper into the hunter's mind, into areas that he knew Dean wasn't even aware of. The subconscious of humans was a fascinating place for Castiel. It wasn't sheltered by guilt or embarrassment, by lies or half-truths. Dean's subconscious was pure, as was everyone's, and Castiel was able to see deeper into why Dean was doing what he was doing. Why he so desperately wanted Castiel to stop appearing so close to him, to stop arriving at inconvenient moments.

It surprised him. Dean Winchester was an excessively heterosexual man, and even though as an angel he was gender-neutral, his vessel was male, and that was a part of what Dean was apparently attracted to. What surprised him more was that he wasn't put-off by this discovery ... he welcomed it. If he could delve into his own subconsciouness, he thought he might find that he harbored the same feelings for Dean Winchester. _Fascinating,_ he thought.

Castiel considered the best way to approach this situation with the knowledge he now had, and decided the best way was subtlety. If he confronted Dean directly with the truth, he would only deny it.

"Very well," Castiel spoke finally. "What would you like to do?"

Dean blinked, pausing for a second to rethink his game plan. "Uh ... we could, um ... play cards?"

Castiel nodded after a moment. "You will have to teach me."

Dean turned his head, looking around the room and trying to gather his thoughts. "Okay, well, why don't I just clear off the desk, and we -"

"The bed would be more comfortable, would it not?" Castiel inquired, allowing innocence to exude from his sparkling, blue eyes.

Something caught in Dean's throat, and he cleared it as discretely as he could. "Sure ... bed's fine."

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An hour passed while Dean taught Castiel the basics of poker, and they played a few hands. Dean opened his mouth a dozen times to ask Castiel what he was doing, and whether or not he got the point yet, but he always closed it again. Some part of him didn't want the night to end. Maybe he'd had fun with Castiel that time he'd tried to get him to lose his virginity, and they'd wound up having to run from security ... okay, that was more than a "maybe they'd had fun". But still, tonight was different. Despite his initial motives, this was more relaxed than he'd felt around the angel since he met him, and he wasn't even drunk.

Castiel smiled as he won the third hand in a row, and Dean wondered if he wasn't using some of his mojo to tip the scales.

"Alright, time to up the ante," Dean announced. "I gotta get my groove back."

Castiel tilted his head. "I believe the next game up from poker would be strip-poker, would it not? Is that what you are referring to?"

Dean's eyes widened considerably, staring at the angel. "What? No, that's not what I meant." _Well, maybe it was ... but it was just a joke, right? Besides, it's not like we can play for cash, gambling is a "sin"._

"Look, why don't we go get something to eat instead?" he suggested, thinking that was harmless enough. "I'm starving."

Castiel nodded, clearing away the cards and plastic chips with a few simple swipes and setting them on the bedside table. "Lead the way."

Dean walked to the diner with Castiel at his side, constantly aware that the angel was literally _right beside_ him ... so close, in fact, that their shoulders, arms, and even their hands would occasionally bump against each other. The personal bubble had pretty much popped into a thousand floating bubbles around them, but he didn't say a word. He'd lost the nerve to lecture Castiel the second he agreed to play poker with him.

When they arrived at the diner, Dean found an empty booth near the back. He slid into one side, expecting Castiel to take the other side, and was surprised when he felt the bench dip beside him. Dean looked over to see Castiel sitting right next to him, glancing over the menu with apparent interest in his eyes.

"Um, Cas, could you -" But before he could get the words out, the waitress arrived to take their order.

"Can I get you guys some drinks to start?" she wondered with a friendly voice.

Dean looked from her to Castiel before replying, "Uh, two coffees, thanks."

The waitress smiled, writing it down and sneaking a glance at the two of them. "Okay, I'll be back to take the rest of your order."

Castiel finished reading the menu, passing it to Dean. "I'm not sure what is good to eat here."

Dean looked over at him, forgetting to ask him to move. "You're gonna eat, too?"

"I don't require sustenance, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy certain foods. I've just never had to occasion to try," Castiel informed him.

Dean thought about that, leaping at the opportunity to introduce Castiel to pie. "Well, if this is your first time, then there's only one thing to have," Dean told him.

Castiel raised his eyebrows in interest. "What would that be?"

Dean smiled. "Sweet Cherry Pie."

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It was the pie that had done him in. Something in him had snapped when that first glorious bite had made its way to Castiel's awaiting mouth, and suddenly Dean felt like he couldn't breathe. He knew something was missing, that he needed something desperately, so he let his body run on auto pilot, letting it decide what to do for itself.

That was how he ended up straddling Castiel's waist on the bed in his motel room. That was how he'd ended up with the taste of cherries in his own mouth, after kissing the angel senseless. And that was why he was currently clawing at the tie around the angel's neck, practically rabid in his attempts to remove their clothing barriers.

Castiel let Dean undress him, reveling in the sensations it was creating; the feelings it was stirring inside of him. He returned the favor once he was naked, removing Dean of the unnecessary coverings. It was truly a night of firsts ... Castiel's first game of poker, his first taste of dessert, his first sexual encounter. The part of him that was berating him for his sins was silenced fairly early, allowing himself the freedom to be with the one that he loved. And he did love Dean, in every sense of the word.

Afterwards, when they were lying sideways on the bed, with pillows and blankets strewn haphazardly around them, Castiel turned his head to gaze at the human next to him in fondness. "So, shall I take this to mean you don't mind me invading your personal space any longer?"

Dean stared ahead for a moment, letting that sink in before he turned to the angel with a grin on his face. "We can work out the details later," he proclaimed, drawing him in for another heated kiss and rolling until they fell off the bed entirely.

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_The end. _

_So, what did you guys think? _

_I'll be at my brother's again this week, so I might not be able to post any new stories. I'll see how it goes, I might get some done while I'm at school ('cause that's what the laptops from the library are for, right?) _

_Reviews are appreciated, flame if you must, but constructive criticism is much more useful. _

_Until next time ...! _


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